


Let Them Burn

by Lene3161



Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Tony is done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 06:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18176873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lene3161/pseuds/Lene3161
Summary: Years later, Tony would look back and laugh, because he had never meant for it to happen. Things just...went that way. No matter how convinced the media was over how he actually planned it all out, it truly was a happy accident.





	Let Them Burn

Pardoned. On probation. Retrained.

 

All those words, and it all meant one thing: the Rogues were coming back.

 

He’d barely been able to stand on his own and walk fifty paces without keeling over and gasping like a landed fish(thanks, Extremis); when they were  _allowed to come home_.

 

Fuck that.

 

 _Dishonor. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your Accords, dishonor on the fate of super humans!_ The Rogues seemed to say.

 

How the fuck did those pardons come through? Oh, right-Captain America can do no wrong. Tony Stark, on the other hand, is the physical embodiment of destruction. 

 

Cap and Tony. Those were the world’s choices. Cap won out. Tony didn’t. That’s it, end of story.

 

Except that it wasn’t.

 

Because the UN was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Cap, a national icon, in trouble? And it involved Tony Stark, the creator of ULTRON? It was obvious to the public who was at fault in their conflict. Never mind that Tony wasn’t there when Cap went on his rampages. Nope, it was Tony’s fault as team leader that everything went awry. That was what the American public decided. The US president heeded his people’s demands and pressured the UN. The UN bowed. Team Cap was pardoned.

 

He was apparently team leader when everything went to shit, yet doormat and indentured servant when everything was sunshine and daisies. Captain Hypocrite didn’t go on his usual ‘know your place, stop disrupting order, Tony’ when he was dubbed team leader and lambasted. Cap was team leader when it was convenient and suited him.

 

Fuck you, Rogers.

 

Tony was furious. It terrified him, how strong the rage and hatred that coursed through him was when he heard the news.

 

The rage and hate left Tony as soon as it came, and he was left tired and hurting and hollow. He abruptly turned off the TV and fled to his room. He buried his face in the pillow, wondering why he was so terrified of drowning and no air when it now seemed like the sweetest of salvations. Anything was better than the Rogues coming back.

 

Anything.

 

Then anger filled him again, so fast that Tony got emotional whiplash. He turned on his back, gasping for breath.

 

How had he been reduced to this? Lying and despairing because a group of people was returning? He used to be so much _more_. His word literally broke companies and influenced nations. Yet here he was, being scared out of his mind.

 

Tony wanted-he didn’t know what he wanted. Did he want the Rogues to hurt? Yes. No. He tried to imagine them sobbing because their lives were ruined. He got a small flicker of satisfaction before the all-consuming tiredness drowned him again.

 

He just...he wanted it all to  _stop_. All the hate and rage and fear and despair...why couldn’t they be gone? 

 

He needed to do something about this. He didn’t even know what ‘this’ meant or what he should do, but he knew he needed to do it. 

 

Problem was, he didn’t want to. He was just too tired for everything. He wanted to go away and never return; never have to deal with the Rogues and the public and SI going down the shitter. 

 

So that was what he did.

 

Tony packed a suitcase with clothes and an Iron Man suit, got on his private jet, and got the hell out of the US, where the Rogues would be.

 

He didn’t even know where he was going. All he told his pilot to do was ‘get me to the farthest country from America without leaving the planet.’ Because space was scary and a possible battleground and  _nope nope nope no way was he going there._

 

When Tony appeared on his hangar, the crew took one look at him and made the unanimous decision to _bring him to Italy, stat_.  

 

Tony barely felt it when he was helped to his seat on the plane and his luggage taken. He didn’t see when a flight attendant gently put a tray with plates of food down in front of him. He didn’t hear when the pilot and flight attendants argued over giving him a sleeping pill.

 

_You know he’s-_

 

_It’ll help him sleep. He looks more like a raccoon than a man._

 

_He had substance abuse issues! And besides, what if he’s allergic or react badly to the pill? It’s not like we can ask for his consent right now, he’s still dazed!_

 

_Look, let’s all stay calm-_

 

The argument was cut short when Tony slumped over and would have face planted in his food had a flight attendant not catch him.

 

_He fell asleep. Let’s just put him to bed._

 

They carefully placed Tony in his cabin. The pilot went back to the cockpit and flew to Italy. The flight attendants changed Tony’s days-old jeans and tee, made sure there was a glass of water on Tony’s bedside table, and left him to get some well-deserved rest. 

 

Tony didn’t know then what he kickstarted when he refused to continue on with his presumed role as the Avengers’ sugar daddy. And he wouldn’t know for quite some time. 

 


End file.
